Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva, Switzerland on June 28, 1712. His mother died 9 days after his birth due to complications and he was left to his father. His father, Isaac, got into a quarrel with a French Captain and left Geneva for the rest of his life for fear of imprisonment in 1722. Rousseau was placed in the hands of a pastor at Bossey near Geneva. Eventually Rousseau left Geneva in 1728 at the age of sixteen for Annecy. It was there that he met Francoise-Louise de Warensand soon converted to Catholicism. In 1742 Rousseau moved to Paris in order to present his new invention, the numbered musical quotation. From 1743 to 1744 he was secretary to the French Ambassador in Venice. In 1745 Rousseau met linen-maid named Therese Levasseur, who would become his lifelong companion (they eventually married in 1768). They had five children together, all of whom were left at the Paris orphanage.
Rousseau converted to Calvinism upon his return to Geneva in 1754. In 1755, Rosseau completes his second major work, The Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Amoung Men. In 1762, The Social Contract was published. Rousseau then suffers a decline in mental health but does not give up writing. He flees back to France in 1767 due to criticisms. While taking a morning, walk Rousseau suffers a hemorrhage and dies in 1778. http://www.iep.utm.edu/r/rousseau.htm
Rousseau's crypt in Paris
Rousseau's Philosophy
Nature vs. Society
Rousseau saw a fundamental divide between society and human nature. Rousseau contended that man was good by nature, a "noble savage" when in the state of nature (the state of all the "other animals", and the condition humankind was in before the creation of civilization and society), but is corrupted by society. He viewed society as artificial and held that the development of society, especially the growth of social interdependence, has been inimical to the well-being of human beings.
His Discourse on Inequality tracked the progress and degeneration of mankind from a primitive state of nature to modern society. He suggested that the earliest human beings were isolated semi-apes who were differentiated from animals by their capacity for free will and their perfectibility. (What do we mean by perfectibility? - xmarquez Sep 26, 2006) He also argued that these primitive humans were possessed of a basic drive to care for themselves and a natural disposition to compassion or pity. As humans were forced to associate together more closely by the pressure of population growth, they underwent a psychological transformation and came to value the opinion of others as an essential component of their own well being.
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* Rousseau associated this new self-awareness with a golden age of human flourishing. However, the development of agriculture and metallurgy, private property and the division of labour led to increased interdependence and inequality. The resulting state of conflict led Rousseau to suggest that the first state was invented as a kind of social contract made at the suggestion of the rich and powerful. This original contract was deeply flawed as the wealthiest and most powerful members of society tricked the general population, and thus instituted inequality as a fundamental feature of human society. As the social contract recognized property rights it also recognized the right of some citizens to own enourmous amounts of property.
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Rousseau's own conception of the social contract can be understood as an alternative to this fraudulent form of association. At the end of the Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau explains how the desire to have value in the eyes of others, which originated in the golden age, comes to undermine personal integrity and authenticity in a society marked by interdependence, hierarchy, and inequality. from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau>>
Examples of Inequality created by the social contract: (should this material be put in the page on the second discourse, or the page on equality and inequality? Does it really belong here? - xmarquez Sep 26, 2006)
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# The division of labor gave increased bargining power to the owner of the means of production. For example, an expert at making car windows has very little bargining power with the car company because his or her work is not valuble without being paired with the car manufacturer. While this change may have increased efficiency it also increased inequality.
Land ownership was protected by the social contract. As some families amassed large pieces of land others were marginalized into extreme poverty and forced to work for the wealthy individuals. Because desparate individuals have very little bargining power it was difficult for poor workers to obtain a fair wage after the rights of the wealthy had been stregnthened. (There are also other kinds of inequalities that might be mentioned: political inequalities, for example - xmarquez Sep 26, 2006)
Timeline of Rousseau's Life
1712 June 12, born in Geneva to a watchmaker and the daughter of a minister who died after giving birth to him. 1722 His father is exiled from Geneva after a fight and moves to Lyons. Rousseau stays in Geneva in the charge of his mother's relations. 1724 Apprenticed to his uncle a lawyer who finds him incapable and sends him back. 1725 Apprenticed to an engraver. 1728 Runs away from his apprenticeship and wanders about Italy France and Switzerland. Meets Madame de Warens after converting to Catholicism in Turin. 1731 Lives in Chambery protected by the widow Madame de Warens. 1733 Madam de Warens becomes his mistress. 1738 Becomes ill and goes to Montpellier which facilitates a liason with Madame de Larange. Loses his relationship to Madam de Warens. 1740 Tutors at Lyon. 1741 Goes to Paris after discovering he neither likes teaching nor is very good at it. 1742 Unsuccessfully presents a new system of music to the Academy of Sciences. Becomes secretary to the ambassador to Venice, M. de Montaigu. 1743 Meets Therese le Vasseur who will become his mistress, bearing him five children, and whom he marries near the end of his life. 1745 Returns to Paris. Collaborates on the Encyclopedia. 1751 Publishes Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts. 1752 Production of his opera the Village Soothsayer. 1754 Returns to Geneva and abjures his abjuration of the Protestant religion. 1755 Publishes Discourse on Inequality. 1756 April moves back to Paris in a cottage at Montmorency. Writes Heloise. 1757 Leaves Montmorency for nearby Montlouis after a quarrel with Diderot. 1758 Publication of Letter to d'Alembert and final rupture in his relations with Diderot. 1761 Publication of Heloise. 1762 Publication of Emile and The Social Contract which forces him to leave France to avoid arrest. Lives briefly in Neuchatel. 1763 Renounces citizenship of Geneva. 1765 Driven from Motiers to the Island of Saint-Pierre. 1766David Hume offers him asylum in England. Begins work on Confessions. 1767 Returns to live in various provinces of France. 1770 Returns to live in Paris. Writes many of his most important works while in Paris over the next eight years including his Dialogues and Reveries. 1778 Moves to Ermenonville where he dies suddenly on July 2.
Table of Contents
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78)
Major Works
Discourse on the Sciences and the ArtsDiscourse on Inequality
Heloise
Emile
Discourse on Political Economy
The Social Contract
Dialogues
Confessions
Reveries of a Solitary Walker
Biography
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva, Switzerland on June 28, 1712. His mother died 9 days after his birth due to complications and he was left to his father. His father, Isaac, got into a quarrel with a French Captain and left Geneva for the rest of his life for fear of imprisonment in 1722. Rousseau was placed in the hands of a pastor at Bossey near Geneva. Eventually Rousseau left Geneva in 1728 at the age of sixteen for Annecy. It was there that he met Francoise-Louise de Warensand soon converted to Catholicism. In 1742 Rousseau moved to Paris in order to present his new invention, the numbered musical quotation. From 1743 to 1744 he was secretary to the French Ambassador in Venice. In 1745 Rousseau met linen-maid named Therese Levasseur, who would become his lifelong companion (they eventually married in 1768). They had five children together, all of whom were left at the Paris orphanage.
Rousseau converted to Calvinism upon his return to Geneva in 1754. In 1755, Rosseau completes his second major work, The Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Amoung Men. In 1762, The Social Contract was published. Rousseau then suffers a decline in mental health but does not give up writing. He flees back to France in 1767 due to criticisms. While taking a morning, walk Rousseau suffers a hemorrhage and dies in 1778.
http://www.iep.utm.edu/r/rousseau.htm
Rousseau's crypt in Paris
Rousseau's Philosophy
Nature vs. Society- Rousseau saw a fundamental divide between society and human nature. Rousseau contended that man was good by nature, a "noble savage" when in the state of nature (the state of all the "other animals", and the condition humankind was in before the creation of civilization and society), but is corrupted by society. He viewed society as artificial and held that the development of society, especially the growth of social interdependence, has been inimical to the well-being of human beings.
- His Discourse on Inequality tracked the progress and degeneration of mankind from a primitive state of nature to modern society. He suggested that the earliest human beings were isolated semi-apes who were differentiated from animals by their capacity for free will and their perfectibility. (What do we mean by perfectibility? -
xmarquez Sep 26, 2006) He also argued that these primitive humans were possessed of a basic drive to care for themselves and a natural disposition to compassion or pity. As humans were forced to associate together more closely by the pressure of population growth, they underwent a psychological transformation and came to value the opinion of others as an essential component of their own well being.
>* Rousseau associated this new self-awareness with a golden age of human flourishing. However, the development of agriculture and metallurgy, private property and the division of labour led to increased interdependence and inequality. The resulting state of conflict led Rousseau to suggest that the first state was invented as a kind of social contract made at the suggestion of the rich and powerful. This original contract was deeply flawed as the wealthiest and most powerful members of society tricked the general population, and thus instituted inequality as a fundamental feature of human society. As the social contract recognized property rights it also recognized the right of some citizens to own enourmous amounts of property.
>
- Rousseau's own conception of the social contract can be understood as an alternative to this fraudulent form of association. At the end of the Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau explains how the desire to have value in the eyes of others, which originated in the golden age, comes to undermine personal integrity and authenticity in a society marked by interdependence, hierarchy, and inequality. from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau>>
- Examples of Inequality created by the social contract: (should this material be put in the page on the second discourse, or the page on equality and inequality? Does it really belong here? -
xmarquez Sep 26, 2006)
># The division of labor gave increased bargining power to the owner of the means of production. For example, an expert at making car windows has very little bargining power with the car company because his or her work is not valuble without being paired with the car manufacturer. While this change may have increased efficiency it also increased inequality.
Timeline of Rousseau's Life
1712 June 12, born in Geneva to a watchmaker and the daughter of a minister who died after giving birth to him.
1722 His father is exiled from Geneva after a fight and moves to Lyons. Rousseau stays in Geneva in the charge of his mother's relations.
1724 Apprenticed to his uncle a lawyer who finds him incapable and sends him back.
1725 Apprenticed to an engraver.
1728 Runs away from his apprenticeship and wanders about Italy France and Switzerland. Meets Madame de Warens after converting to Catholicism in Turin.
1731 Lives in Chambery protected by the widow Madame de Warens.
1733 Madam de Warens becomes his mistress.
1738 Becomes ill and goes to Montpellier which facilitates a liason with Madame de Larange. Loses his relationship to Madam de Warens.
1740 Tutors at Lyon.
1741 Goes to Paris after discovering he neither likes teaching nor is very good at it.
1742 Unsuccessfully presents a new system of music to the Academy of Sciences. Becomes secretary to the ambassador to Venice, M. de Montaigu.
1743 Meets Therese le Vasseur who will become his mistress, bearing him five children, and whom he marries near the end of his life.
1745 Returns to Paris. Collaborates on the Encyclopedia.
1751 Publishes Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts.
1752 Production of his opera the Village Soothsayer.
1754 Returns to Geneva and abjures his abjuration of the Protestant religion.
1755 Publishes Discourse on Inequality.
1756 April moves back to Paris in a cottage at Montmorency. Writes Heloise.
1757 Leaves Montmorency for nearby Montlouis after a quarrel with Diderot.
1758 Publication of Letter to d'Alembert and final rupture in his relations with Diderot.
1761 Publication of Heloise.
1762 Publication of Emile and The Social Contract which forces him to leave France to avoid arrest. Lives briefly in Neuchatel.
1763 Renounces citizenship of Geneva.
1765 Driven from Motiers to the Island of Saint-Pierre.
1766 David Hume offers him asylum in England. Begins work on Confessions.
1767 Returns to live in various provinces of France.
1770 Returns to live in Paris. Writes many of his most important works while in Paris over the next eight years including his Dialogues and Reveries.
1778 Moves to Ermenonville where he dies suddenly on July 2.
Citation: http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/rousseau.html